Response agencies review kayak rescue procedures

Emergency response officials gather at the Gibraltar Fire Station on Thursday night for a debriefing about the search and rescue operation that saved three kayakers who had spent 15 hours on the waters of Green Bay last week. Samantha Hernandez/Door County Advocate

A Door County emergency response agencies debriefing at the Gibraltar Fire Station on Thursday night ended with the U.S. Coast Guard offering additional training on water drift patterns.

The agencies spent the evening reviewing the search and rescue operation involving three kayakers who were found July 11 after spending 15 hours adrift on the bay of Green Bay. The search for Alison Alter, 43, of Austin, Texas, her son Zach Suri and nephew Thomas Alter of Highland Park, Ill., – both 9 – began the evening of July 10 after they failed to return to shore from a trip to Horseshoe Island. They were located in an area of the bay known as Whaleback Shoals, about one-mile over the state line into Michigan.

Just before the briefing, Alter and Zach visited with the members of the various fire departments and emergency agencies that took part in the rescue. They left without speaking with the Door County Advocate. The session was closed to the media.

“The Coast Guard is going to start up a training session on drift patterns,” Door County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Jeff Farley said Friday, who acted as incident commander during the rescue.

Lt. Cmdr. Cary G. Godwin plans to set up training soon, Farley said.

Farley explained Alter, Zach and Thomas went out to Horseshoe Island but were unable to turn around. They ended up letting the current carry them away.

The kayakers were farther out than expected, he said. Rescuers first searched places like Chambers Island and shallow areas where people can walk.

In her meeting with authorities, Alter talked not about herself but the two boys, Farley said: “How she felt so proud of these boys. They kept their heads and listened to her directions.”

Local agencies will also begin training with the Coast Guard in case another such incident occurs.

Overall, the meeting among the agencies was “positive,” Farley said, a “great opportunity for everyone to reaffirm our procedures and reaffirm our assets.”

Before the meeting several fire chiefs talked about how their departments contributed to the search.

“Jurisdictionally fire authority ends at the waterline,” Whitney said. “So we are truly operating under the sheriff, the (Department of Natural Resources) or the Coast Guard. Once they’re involved, we simply become an extension of what they are doing.”

When the call for the missing kayakers came in, emergency responders first checked the most likeliest places where they might be.

“We launched a shoreline search; we searched from Juddville all the way up to Ellison Bay,” he said.

They also had Peninsula State Park rangers helping.

“We kept hoping at some point we would find them that way,” he said.

In the vast majority of calls pertaining to people missing on the water, it turns out the person was lost and simply needed to be redirected, he said.

Whitney advises people to be prepared even if they are just taking short trip. He recommends bringing a cellphone in a plastic bag and wearing layers.

Even if cellphone reception is spotty, often a text will go through, he said.

Baileys Harbor Fire Chief Brian Zak said he had people on the water and land for the search.

“It’s a scared feeling, obviously, being a parent knowing there are kids involved,” Zak said.